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12 Month Pupillage

Application information

The application process for pupillage beginning October 2025 and October 2026 has now closed.

We will be conducting our first round interviews on Saturday 22 March.  This is the only date on which we will be conducting first interviews.

If you have any specific questions relating to pupillage, please email pupillage@3rblaw.com.

Equality statement

We aim to be an organisation in which everyone is treated with respect and dignity, and where there is equal opportunity for all. Chambers are committed to ensuring that no client, member of Chambers (whether tenant or pupil), or member of staff will be discriminated against, directly or indirectly, or bullied, harassed or victimised on grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, nationality or ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender or sexual orientation, or treated less favourably on such grounds.

This statement applies to the recruitment processes through which Pupils, Tenants and Staff are selected, to the conduct of all Pupils, Tenants and Staff during their tenure in Chambers, and to the treatment of professional and lay clients.

In order to help us enact our commitment to ensuring equality of opportunity and diversity in Chambers, and to enable us effectively to monitor, review and, if necessary, identify appropriate remedial action to our recruitment processes, we invite applicants to complete our Equality and Diversity Monitoring form. There is no obligation to provide this information.  It does not form any part of the pupillage application process. Any information provided in the survey will be treated in strictest confidence. It will not be included in any part of the assessment process, nor will any panel members have sight of it.

 

Should you apply?

We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds.

We will always make reasonable adjustments to accommodate applicants with a disability.

We consider applicants who demonstrate a real interest in pursuing a career based around our prime areas of expertise. Our areas of work are diverse, and our practice is national and international.

Number of places available

We generally advertise up to three 12 month pupillages commencing October each year.

Funding

The funding for 2025 onwards is £55,000 plus expenses:

  • First six months: an award of £30,000 paid in monthly instalments
  • Second six months: guaranteed income of £25,000 i.e. monthly income calculated from the date practice commences is “topped” up to £4,166.67
  • Up to £6,000 of the above funding is available as a drawdown towards funding the BPC year
  • Continuing Education Allowance: up to £500 paid towards any compulsory courses
  • Travel Expenses: reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in travel for the purposes of pupillage

Recruitment procedure

All communication will be by email via the Pupillage Gateway.  It is therefore vital for candidates to check their email frequently, and to keep us informed of any changes to contact details.

After the closing date all applications will be reviewed by our selection panels using uniform selection criteria.

Chambers take every step to ensure that candidates are selected solely on merit, and irrespective of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, gender and gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, age, disability, religious or political beliefs.

Information for applicants who have a disability

If you need reasonable adjustments during any part of the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to contact the Pupillage Secretary.  We understand that it can be difficult to talk about a disability however, it may help you to be open about your disability so that we can support you through the process and ensure that you have the right level of reasonable adjustments.  Reasonable adjustments might include (but are not limited to) ensuring ease of physical access, assistive technology, extra time or offering an alternative interview time.

Any conversations regarding disability and adjustments will be treated in strictest confidence and will not be shared with interview panels.  Applicants may choose to share information relating to particular extenuating circumstances.

Extenuating circumstances

We understand that there may be exceptional circumstances such as a bereavement, caring responsibilities, disability or a mental or physical health condition which has had a material effect on your academic performance to date or on another factor material to your application.  If you would like this to be taken into account then you may say so on your application form. No one is obliged to share this information.  If you do choose to share this information, it will be considered during the selection process but will not be shared more widely.

Shortlisting procedure

After the closing date, all applications are anonymised by the Pupillage Secretary before being reviewed by our selection panels.

Selection panels comprise two members at varying levels of seniority, with experience in the major areas of work covered by Chambers.  Each selection panel will review applications using uniform selection criteria:

  • Apparent intellectual/analytical ability
  • Integrity and resilience
  • Apparent commitment to our areas of expertise
  • Aptitude for advocacy and persuasiveness
  • Overall quality of the completed application

Applications are initially reviewed by two members of the Selection Panel who will each receive his/her own copy of the application with an assessment form on the front. They will be unaware of the opinions or identity of the other selector, and will make their own recommendation as to whether or not the candidate should be interviewed.

All applications are returned to the Pupillage Secretary who prepares a table of candidates showing each selector’s recommendations.  Those candidates who have received the same assessment from both panel members are not reviewed further. Candidates who have received differing assessments are reviewed by the third member of the panel, who will again be unaware of the other selectors’ opinions or identities.  The table of candidates is updated with the recommendation of the third panel member.

Based on their overall assessments, shortlisted candidates are invited to attend first interviews.

Interviews are usually held on a weekend in Chambers.  They are conducted by panels consisting of 3 members at varying levels of seniority, with experience in the major areas of work covered by Chambers.

If offered a first interview, you will receive detailed instructions, but the interview format outlined is likely to remain broadly the same.

Interview format

Generally we ask candidates to spend 15 minutes preparing a 3 minute presentation on a choice of topics set by us for that day.  No prior research is required, and the topics for the presentation do not necessarily relate to law.

The oral interview which follows includes some general questions, topical questions of a legal nature and the 3 minute presentation.  Each member of the interview panel assesses the candidate based on his/her response to the questions and the structure, content and delivery of the presentation.

At the end of the interviews each panel makes assessments and finalises the second interview shortlist.  Candidates who are shortlisted further will be invited to a second interview on a date to be confirmed.  The structure of the second interview involves a more formal process, which will include an advocacy exercise.  You will receive this on the day of interview, and ordinarily be given 30 minutes to prepare.

The offer period

All pupillages will be offered via Chambers.  Make sure you are in a position to check your email wherever you may be, or get someone to check it for you and contact you.  If you are faced with multiple offers you may want to ask questions of those sets who have offered you pupillage.

Contact details

Please make sure you update us with any changes to your contact details.

Structure of pupillage

Candidates who secure pupillage at Three Raymond Buildings can be assured of an excellent grounding in all aspects of criminal and regulatory law through working with, and learning from, leading practitioners with a national and international reputation.

Each pupil can expect to work with a different supervisor every four months.

Training

We have a full in-house training programme over the year including several advocacy sessions run by qualified trainers, educational sessions on subjects such as case preparation, legal submissions, ethics, conduct at court and practice management sessions on case management, time recording and billing.

Monitoring and feedback

Pupils are monitored regularly to ensure that checklists are being completed, that they are receiving all the requisite training and experience and that work is being allocated fairly. Feedback meetings are also held with outgoing and incoming supervisors at the end of each four-month assignment so that positive and negative points about a pupil’s performance are identified and any action required addressed during the next assignment.

Facilities

Our accommodation is fairly typical of a set of Chambers in an Inn – a mixture of traditional layout and modern technology. Rooms are sufficiently populated to create a busy atmosphere. Inevitably there is a lot of research work for barristers and pupils, quite often at short notice, but much of the information can be found in our electronic library and sent quickly to one of our network printers. We have a number of conference rooms and are noted for the warm welcome we offer to our visitors.

People

We have an open door policy here, with everyone willing to provide support and advice. If pupils are prepared to make themselves known to everyone, offer assistance, ask questions and offer opinions, they will get an enormous amount back from us and enjoy themselves in the process. We like pupils to be involved in Chambers’ life and we have regular social evenings to make sure this happens.

After pupillage

At the end of the 12 month pupillage, we interview pupils for tenancy in chambers. This is a structured process which takes the form of a question and answer session and an advocacy exercise.

Generally we offer tenancy to candidates who have demonstrated exceptional abilities during pupillage and at interview.

Those who are not taken on as tenants are allowed to remain in chambers for a maximum of three months, during which time they will be given every assistance with their applications to other chambers.

Our future as a leading set of chambers is in the recruitment of tenants who trained at Three Raymond Buildings as pupils. In the last ten years we have offered tenancy to 14 of our pupils, all of whom accepted.

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